Since I Met You
by xCookieMonster
Summary: Kira's boyfriend of 10 months just moved away. She's devestated, but when Kiley comes into her life, she struggles with feelings and experiences she's never been through before.


"_Yesterday was history & tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift & that's why they call it 'present'." __-I do not know who said this._

"I love you," she said, trying to hold him as tight as possible.

"I love you too," he replied.

She knew that he could not stay in a long distance relationship, he said so himself. Especially with him living somewhere as far as Europe, and her staying in America, he knew it wouldn't work out. The chances of seeing each other once a month, or even once a year, was dim. It pained her to think that his love wasn't strong enough to cope with the distance between them. She definitely knew hers was strong enough to cope with any distance. Even to the planet Pluto. She tried to absorb every single second of this moment into her mind so that she'll never forget a single thing. She was crushing all hopes of seeing him rather than clinging to it and getting even more hurt in the future when she decides to give it up.

An hour later, he departed with his family. The family she had gotten so close to the past 10 months. They were all moving to France since his grandfather had just died and Jake's dad did not want their grandmother to be living alone. She would never see them again, and most importantly, she would never see Jake again. Tears started to blur her vision no matter how much effort she put into keeping them all inside. They all just started falling after the first tear dropped, seeming as though determined to fall faster than the other one.

"Hunny, are you alright?" her mom asked with a voice full of concern.

Kira turned around to face her mom and little sister. The three of them were watching Jake's plane take off from a window. "I'm fine mom," said Kira while forcing a small smile. _I hate it when she sees me like this._

I'm-I'm never gonna have any other best friend in my whole entire life e-e-e-ever again!" complained Jennalynn.

"Jenna, there's still the other kids at school sweetie," her mom said soothingly.

"Yeah, but they're a-all boring! I told her sh-sh-she could just hide under my bed or-or-or in my c-c-cl-closet!" Jennalynn said. Kira's sister was starting another crying session. The recent one had just ended about 15 minutes ago before the plane took off.

Kira's mom, Ari, went down to her knees and faced Jennalynn. "How about I treat you and Kira to that ice cream parlor down there? And I'll even let you have as many scoops as you want."

Kira looked over to where Ari was pointing. Sure enough, there was an ice cream parlor next to the cafe they ate at with Jake and his family earlier.

"R-r-really? So if I wanted a gazillion scoops, you'd let me h-have it?" Jennalynn said in between muffled sobs.

"Sure," Ari said with a reassuring smile. "Anything to help you and Kira feel better."

At that reply, Jennalynn's lips broke into a small smile. "Let's go mom! Hurry up Kira!" Jennalynn took her mom's hands and walked away with her.

"Kira, come on!" her mom called behind her.

"Alright mom. I'll be there," she said in a soft voice. Kira was pretty sure her mom hadn't heard her. It wasn't fair how 6 year olds were so easily cheered up. She turned around to face the window from which she watched Jake's plane take off. She felt as though she was permanently glued from where she was standing. Kira kept on imagining that perhaps Jake somehow persuaded the pilot to turn back, that he might come off the plane looking for her. If he did that, she wanted him to be able to find her. A million things were coming in and out of her head. Questions, thoughts, memories… she just didn't notice anything else. The shouts of the people, sobs of the people, luggage being rolled around, and people's footsteps…

"Kiraaaaa! What are you doing? Mom said I can't have my ice cream until you get there and I want my ice cream!" Jennalynn coaxed.

Jennalynn was right beside Kira pulling at her skirt. She stared down at the little 6 year old girl with wavy brown hair standing as tall as up to her midriff. That little girl was staring back at Kira with light brown pleading eyes.

"Kira! Stop staring at me like I'm a ghost because I'm not! You are so freaky! Now come on!" Jennalynn started pulling her sister's hand.

"Alright already! Let go of my hand. You're acting as though you've never eaten ice in your life, gee," Kira said trying to look irritated. Kira always loved getting her little sister mad. It was a little pay back to all those times Jennalynn was so bratty and annoying. They both walked over the ice cream parlor and sat down at the table their mom was at. And finally, Ari handed Jennalynn her ice cream cup.

"Kira, are you sure you're fine?" asked her mom.

Kira rolled her eyes before mumbling, "Yes mom."

Ari gave her a skeptic look and gave Kira one of her _'we'll talk about it later' _glares.

"You know what, I forgot to call Lucy about that summer job she was gonna help me get," Kira said, suddenly remembering.

"Just call her when we get home sweetie. I don't have my cell phone with me," her mom replied.

"After 3 more scoops of ice cream for Kira, 2 more for Ari, and 6 more for Jennalynn, they were ready to head home. The three of them were walking towards the elevators leading to the parking lots.

"Did you see how much I ate Kira? I ate more than a million pounds of ice cream! I went like… grub, grub, grub! Glub, glub, glub! Ha! I beat you! You only ate 3 more scoops of ice cream after your first one and I ate _10 more scoops_ of ice cream after my first one," explained Jennalynn. She stuck out her tongue at Kira.

"No Jenna. You did not eat 10 more scoops of ice cream. You only had 6," said Kira in an _as-a-matter-of-fact_ tone. Yes, Kira was still hurting a lot from Jake's departure, but it seemed as though for the time being, the pain was lessened. Even though her mom and her sister were the last people on her list to ever make her feel better, they did make her feel better without even knowing it.

Actually, Kira never really expected anyone to help her feel better and she never displayed her emotions (well, maybe except for today during Jake's departure). All Kira ever displayed was a calm, collected, quiet, shy demeanor (especially towards people she's just met) or a carefree, happy, outgoing, friendly demeanor. She didn't feel comfortable when people tried to help her. Kira felt awkward. When they would give her advises, she'd never follow them. She didn't feel like they'd help her situation at all, as though they were only saying it because they wanted to seem like a good person or friend. Kira's always felt that her way of solving her problems were better. And if she didn't have a way to solve them, she'd just act like it never happened. _Almost like running away from them_.

"Well, I still beat you by 3 scoops!" Jennalynn shot back.

"Okay. At least I'm not the one that's going to look like a pig when I grow up because I ate too much ice cream when I was little."

"Mom! Kira said I'm going to look like a pig when I grow up!"

"No, you're not. You're going to look like the princess you are," their mom said.

"See! Mom said I'm going too look like a princess! I'm going to look just like Belle from Beauty and the Beast when I grow up," said Jennalynn.

They were in front of the elevators waiting for the doors to open. "Whatever. Mom, I'm thirsty. Can I have a dollar? I'm going to buy something to drink at that vending machine over there," Kira said. "

Ari searched in her purse for a dollar and handed it to Kira. The doors opened. Ari and Jennalynn stepped in. "Well, we'll be waiting for you in the car. I know how long it takes for you to pick out a drink. You know where we are, we're on the-"

"3rd floor parking lot in section B next to a _'disabled only'_ sign," Kira continued for her. The elevator doors closed.

Kira sighed. _Why does mom always have to spoil Jennalynn like that?_ She stood at least 3 feet away from the vending machine. To Kira, all sodas were the same. They all had one objective, to make you fatter. The only Kira ever drinks was water and sometimes milk during breakfast. _Hmm… maybe I should go back up to the café and ask them for water… but that might take too long. Well, I guess drinking soda just for today won't really affect anything, but…_

"Can't decide what to get?" said a guy's voice behind her.

Kira turned around. Instantly, she was blown away with the stranger's looks. He was perhaps the cutest guy she's ever seen. _No! Jake's the cutest guy! But… he still is somewhat gorgeous. _He had shaggy blonde hair mixed with some dark brown while some bangs partly covered his right eyes, his eyes were an intense color of blue tinted with some green, his lips were thin, but it matched his face perfectly, and his body was looking fine. He wasn't too buff, but he wasn't a stick either. He wore a crisp white shirt and khaki cargo pants. Kira noticed she had been staring too long with her mouth opened. Heat rushed to her face and she looked down at the one dollar bill she'd been grasping in her now sweaty palms.

"Umm… yeah, I wish they had water," she replied. Kira hoped that he wasn't hearing the loud thumping in her chest.

"Yes they do," the stranger said. He walked over in front of the vending machine and put in a dollar. He pressed a button and picked up a bottle of Aquafina. "Here," he said handing her the bottle, "It said that the button for Mountain Dew is for water instead," he said with a smile.

_His smile is such a killer._ Kira felt like the most stupid and blindest person ever. _This is so embarrassing…_ Maybe she didn't see it because a third of her mind was still on Jake, another third was on how spoiled her little sister was, and the last part was on the summer job she wanted. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't really focusing on what drink she wanted, only that she was mad at sodas for making everyone fat. _I am so stupid!_ "Thanks, I guess I didn't see that," Kira said with a smile, "I honestly can't believe I didn't see that."

"No problem," the stranger replied, "Now you just gotta give me your dollar since I spent mine on yours already."

She handed over the dollar. "Thanks again." Kira walked over to the elevators and pressed the button pointing up. _Please open soon, please open soon…_ thought Kira. Trying to seem as calm as possible, she opened the bottle of Aquafina and drank. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the _cute_ stranger heading towards her. If she could and if the elevator would do it, she'd yell out _'Open sesame!' _but she didn't. Kira withdrew from drinking and secretly trying to command the doors to open with her mind and eyes.

Now aware that the stranger was standing right next to her, her stomach did a complete 360.

"So where are you going up to?" he asked.

"To the 3rd floor in section B next to one of the _'disabled only'_ parking signs," she replied. _Why did I just include that last part?_

The stranger gave a little chuckle. The doors finally opened and she stepped inside followed by the stranger.

"I'm going to the 3rd floor too, except I have no idea which section I'm at and not next to one of the _'disabled only'_ parking signs."

"Oh."

"What bought you to the airport today?"

"My mom, sister, and me dropped off my boyfriend and his family here. They're moving to France," Kira said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"So… your boyfriend is moving. He must be crazy to leave you behind."

Just when Kira was about to ask what he meant by that, the doors opened. They both stepped out.

"Alright then, bye," the stranger said, walking away.

"Bye," Kira answered.

Kira heard a honk behind her and turned around. It was her mom driving towards her.

"What took you so long?" Ari said as soon as Kira got settled, "I mean I know you take a long time to pick out a drink, but not this long."

"Umm… let's just say that I was too blind to notice that wha I wanted was right in front of me all along," Kira replied with a smile.


End file.
